The U.S. Hits Record STD Numbers—and Prevention Budgets Continue to Fall

Gonorrhea bacteria

On Tuesday, a new report from the Center for Disease Prevention and Control announced that nearly 2.3 million cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia were diagnosed in 2017—the highest number ever reported in the U.S. Since 2013, diagnoses of gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia are up 67 percent, 76 percent, and 21 percent, respectively. Chlamydia, the most common of the three diseases, saw 1.7 million cases last year.
There’s a breadth of factors at play in rising sexually transmitted disease rates. More babies are being born with STDs, since their mothers are more likely to be infected. And chlamydia detection could be getting better for women, who may be undergoing increased screening. But one of the main drivers are the massive budget cuts public-health centers and STD programs have seen over the past few years. When underfunded, these initiatives decrease their hours and staff, and sometimes close altogether, making STD detection and treatment more difficult.
The CDC acknowledges that budget cuts are posing an increasing challenge at battling the spread of STDs. Since 2003, the CDC’s STD-prevention budget has decreased by 40 percent. A 2012 article in Harvard Public Health noted that only three percent of government health spending went to public health programs, and 52 percent of state and local STD programs experienced budget cuts; ultimately, 21 local health departments across the country closed as a result. These cuts have come from multiple administrations, and the Trump Administration recently proposed a 17 percent cut to the 2019 STD-prevention budget, which could only make the STD problem worse.

“It’s not a coincidence STDs are skyrocketing—state and local STD programs are working with effectively half the budget they had in the early 2000s,” David Harvey, the executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, says in a press release. “Right now, our STD-prevention engine is running on fumes.”
Heidi Swygard, the epidemiologist for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services HIV/STD Prevention and Control Branch, noted the peril of the plummeting budgets. “We have a public-health workforce that is being asked to do at least as much as they were in 2003, if not maybe a little bit more with fewer resources,” she says. “There just aren't the boots on the ground. And if you can't treat, then you have ongoing transmission in the community.”